By JIMMY VIELKIND Capitol bureau

Published 1:00 am, Tuesday, January 12, 2010

ALBANY -- Gov. David Paterson said remarks about Barack Obama attributed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a newly published book are "reprehensible," but that Reid should not have to resign his leadership position in that chamber.

In "Game Change," an insider account of the 2008 presidential election, Reid was quoted as saying that then-Sen. Barack Obama would likely find success as a candidate because he was "a light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Reid was an early supporter of Obama's bid.

"I have said this -- not only when it was a Democrat or when it was a Republican -- that when people properly apologize for these types of mistakes that it doesn't merit destroying their careers," Paterson told reporters Monday.

"But I would say that I thought the comments not only were reprehensible, but it's amazing to think to print a whole book that so many people saw and nobody noticed that this ill-chosen remark was in the book? Didn't anybody read the book before they put it out? I find it kind of shocking."

In keeping with publishing tradition, the book's contents were kept under wraps until its release date approached. The Reid comments and other items concerning Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sarah Palin and other 2008 political personalities began appearing in print over the weekend; the book hits shelves today.

"I'm just saying that it's disturbing a lot of people must of have seen this," Paterson continued during a question-and-answer period after a speech to Family Planning Advocates. "It's a very intrusive and kind of degrading remark, but it's one that was probably close to a different kind of way of phrasing it which might have been acceptable."